Bulb final bill estimated gas usage at almost a full year's supply for one month!

nomadnorris

Switching energy supplier after using MSE I was told that due to me having smart meters there would be no need for meter readings for the switch. I noticed that gas usage was not showing on the smart meter in the house so I photographed the meters on switch day just in case. I've taken regular photos since.

Bulb produced a final bill that included a gas estimate which I've projected as almost a full year's supply. Their estimate was ludicrous and not even nearly close and the meter readings show they have estimated at 10 times my actual usage for the month prior to switch. For electricity, Bulb, for some bizarre reason, also estimated 2 days in the final month for electricity. Bulb concluded that because I was using an average of 3.2 units of electricity per day for the first 29 days of the month, it would be entirely appropriate to estimate 68.75 units per day for each of the last 2 days of the month. The bill was pretty large so I checked with the new supplier, Shell. Shell accepted my new meter readings and said I need not worry, they would dispute the readings with Bulb.

I complained to Bulb as well. I supplied Bulb with the meter reading photos as well and they replied that the estimates looked high but did not change the final bill. Then, 9 days later, the final bill amount was taken from my account. Then, the next day a new final bill was produced showing a lower bill amount meaning I would be due a refund of several hundred pounds - purely due to the excessive and poor estimates provided by Bulb. I now need to wait 2 weeks because Bulb could not be bothered to estimate accurately or in a timely manner - maybe they just made the estimates up, who knows.

How is it that an energy supplier like Bulb can get away with estimating in such a poor way and take funds from my account that they are clearly not entitled to.

What can I do about this, any suggestions?

Gerry1

The changeover readings should only have been sent to Shell.

You shouldn't have sent any final readings to Bulb, you should only have checked that Bulb used the same readings that Shell used and then gave them (which may be slightly different to the readings that you submitted).

nomadnorris

"You shouldn't have sent any final readings to Bulb", good to know in future, Thanks Gerry1.
I sent Bulb readings only because their support staff asked for them when dealing with my complaint about their estimates being a joke. The final bill is out by a factor of 10, so I complained about that you see.

Gerry1

The changeover is driven by the new supplier.  The Mysterious Third Party can tweak the results (even if from a smart meter) but you can challenge this if they are outside defined limits (see the links).  When you are happy with the Shell opening reading then you just insist that Bulb use exactly the same figures for the final bill, and go to the Ombudsman after eight weeks if they don't.

[Deleted User]

We all get very excited about inaccurate bills; however, on switches there is one basic principle which is that you will not pay for the same energy twice. Suppliers have to use the same reading to open and close your accounts.

Let us assume that the old supplier over billed you for 6000kWhs - based on the industry agreed opening/closing reading- at a unit price of 2.5p/kWh. You would overpay the old supplier £150.  The key point here is that the new supplier cannot bill you for those 6000kWhs until the meter index passes the opening reading. If your new unit price is, say, 2.8p/kWh then you will not pay £168 in future unit costs: a saving of £18.  Fortunately, in most cases the difference between the validated readings and the meter index is minor and the cost/saving to the customer is only pence.

nomadnorris

I'll have to call Bulb tomorrow as it looks like Bulb have messed up on their first and second final bills. Their first final bill has a poor gas usage estimate. Their second final bill ignores the electricity meter read that appears on the first and invents an estimate that is overcooked, just like the gas estimate was. It's actually quite funny. From both Bulb final bills:

Now that the new supplier has issued me with a bill I can see that I am being charged for the same electricity twice as the reads don't align! 

wild666

When they estimate they are supposed to estimate previous years readings then any lower bills will be compensated by the next meter reading. I switched in Jan this year and I have a Smart meter but as my switch date was only a few days after my billing date I didn't send a reading that month. Bulb estimated the reading on the previous years reading, my smart meter was put in by BG in 2015 for their free electric tariff and Bulb was my second switch. They estimated the bill at just over £60 so when I gave them the final reading on the 19/1/21 the reading was lower than the reading for gas but only 4 kWh higher for electric with a total bill of just over £4. 
I take weekly readings of electric and gas and submit readings to my present supplier, Avro, on the billing day, the 19th, I also take the reading on the switch date, if I switch suppliers, and input it into a spreadsheet on the PC no matter what date it is so that I have an accurate reading.  

Oneye12

"We all get very excited about inaccurate bills; however, on switches there is one basic principle which is that you will not pay for the same energy twice. Suppliers have to use the same reading to open and close your accounts".

"Now that the new supplier has issued me with a bill I can see that I am being charged for the same electricity twice as the reads don't align! "

Surprise !!   ....  No you're not the only one ....

"How is it that an energy supplier like Bulb can get away with estimating in such a poor way and take funds from my account that they are clearly not entitled to."

It's nothing personal - and they are not the only ones trying it on !

As far as I'm concerned it is nothing less than False Accounting - It's time OFGEM sat up and started taking notice of the market. And explain to us why False Accounting is acceptable under present day licensing.

Write to OFGEM as you have done to us - address to Jonathan.Brearley@ofgem.gov.uk

Jonathan Brearley   Ofgem CEO; just to let him know ours was not an isolated incident.

In the meantime you can ask both old/new suppliers where they got their estimations from - I can almost guarantee you will not get a straight answer.

Oneye12

One final point - when OFGEM advise you that they do not investigate individual cases, I'll supply you with an OFGEM rule book and email address that says they can !